Illuminated sign.



E. P. BAKER.

ILLUMINATED SIGN. 7

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 15, 1915.

Patentd Mar. 12:, 11117.

BEWARE P. BAKER, OF DARIEN, CUNNECTICUT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 13, 191?;

Application filed March 15, 1915. Serial No. 14,443.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD P. BAKER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Darien, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Illuminated Signs; and I do hereby declare the follow ing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in illuminated signs and has for 1ts principal object to provide a device which is arranged to be attached to amotor vehicle to display the license number.

Another object of the invention is to provide a combined license number displaying device and rear signal lamp thus removing the necessity of using the ordinary tail lamp.

A furtherobjeot of the invention is to provide a device which is so constructed that the light shed therefrom will not only fall upon the license number but will also fall upon the ground at a point beyond the rear wheels of the vehicle so that in case it is nec essary to back the car at any time it may be done so and the driver may easily determine the quality of the road to the rear of the vehicle.

A further object of the invention is to provide a device which completely incloses the lighting devices and in which the number plates are interchangeable.

A still further object of the invention is toprovide a casing wherein it is possible to easily gain access to the interior thereof in order that the light or socket therefor may be repaired or re laced.

Still another 0 ject of the invention is to provide a novel means for securing the removable glass panel forming the lower wall of the casing in place.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel combination and arrangement of parts which will be fully set forth in the following specification and accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a front view in elevation of the device showing the number plate partially withdrawn,

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional View taken on a longitudinal plane, and

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view of the device.

Referring to the drawings the numeral 1 designates as an entirety a casing comprising the top 2 having itsends down turned as at 3 to form the end Walls of the device. A suitable rear wall 4 is provided and is secured to the top and end walls 2 and 3 respectively and this rear wall 4 is preferably formed of two separate sheets of metal 5 and 6. The sheet 5 is bent outwardly intermediate its lateral edges as at 7 to form a longitudinally extending depression for the reception of the wires by which the power is furnished to the lamps and the wall 6 extends downwardly below the lower edge of the wall 5 as at 8 and is bent back upon itself as at 9 and the upper edge of this bent back the lower edge of the plate 5.

Riveted or otherwise secured to the rear wall 4 is a suitable bracket 11 having threaded thereinto the set screw 12 by which the device is secured to the suitable supporting bracket mounted on the vehicle.

Front wall of the casing 1 like the rear wall 4 is formed of two separate plates which extend from the top 2 to the lower edge of the rear plate 5 of the rear wall 1 and the outer plate is extended downwardly beyond the lower edge of the inner plate as at 13 and is provided with the opening 13 through which the light of the illuminating means as well as the license number may be read. A suitable rearwardly turned flange 15 is formed on the lower edge of the frame 13 and on one of its end edges and this rear- .wardly turned flange carries the flange 16 ranged to be slid into the above mentioned trough in the rear of the number plate and the end closure 17 is pivoted as at 18 to the end of the frame which was left open and this member 17 is provided with the indentation' 19 which engages in a suitable aperture or recessQO formed in the frame 13 near the open end.

A suitablercentral opening 21 is formed in the front wall of the casing 1 and is for the reception of the bullseye 22 which is preferablyof a red glass or the like so as to take the place of the usual rear tail lamp.

The lower edge of the inner plate of the forming a support for the transparent glass plate 24 which extends horizontally beneath the upper wall 2 as clearly shown in the drawings. In order to hold the plate 4- in place one end of the casing is provided with the inturned flange 25 and the opposite end is formed with a suitable aperture for the reception of the screw 26 which holds the clip 27 in place. This clip 27 is formed with the flange 28 which engages the under side of the glass and supports the same and the clip 27 prevents the said glass from being accidentally slid from position.

In order to provide an illuminating means .for the device, the lamp sockets 29 are secured within the casing at the desired point and are arranged-to support the lamps 30 in operatiye position. The wires 31 leading to the lamps are carried in the depressed portion 7 as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

The number plate used in connection with this device is preferably of an opaque material having the numbers and characters out therefromo It will thus be seen that the light will easily shine through the opening and will be plainly visible after dark. In order to assist in the reading of the charac ters on the number plate in the day time, the plate of white translucent glass is inserted behind the number plate and it will be evident that the characters will appear plainly readable.

It will be apparent from the 'foregoing that in use when the lights in the casing are lighted it will be evident that the rays of the lights will shine down through the transparent plate 24 and be directed against the rear portion of the translucent plate and will shine through the openings in the opaque number plate. In this way it will be clearly evident that the characters may be easily read. It is also apparent that the light shining down through the transparent plate 2i will strike the ground and illuminate the lllll t same on both sides of the vehicle to a distance somewhat beyond the wheel so that in case it is necessary to back the car the driver may easily examine the quality of the road in rear of the vehicle thus enabling himto avoid many of the accidents due to not being able to see when the vehicle is backed.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention, it is to be understood that such changes may be made in the combination and arrangement of parts as will fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claim.

What is claimed is A device of the character described including a housing comprising end walls, front and rear walls and a top wall, a transparent bottom wall, a substantially elongated frame depending from the lower edge of the front wall of the housing, a 'bulls eye centrally of the front wall, a screen of translu-- cent material removably held in the frame, a perforated number plate removably held in front of the translucent screen, lights p0-' sitioned within the housing and so arranged as to illuminate the number plate by shin-.

ing through the transparent bottom wall and against the translucent screen, and one end of the frame being hingedly connected to provide a guide closure to permit the number plate and traihslucent screen to be easily and quickly removed from the frame, said hinged end wallalso adapted to close the end of the frame and hold the number plate and translucent screen against any further movement.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD P. BAKER.

Witnesses:

E. G. FAIRCHILD, STEPHEN R. How. 

